The resignation of Sturgis football coach Bill Keim has led to an outpouring of support from the community, former players and former coaches.

On Friday, the Sturgis Journal received 11 pages of documents through the Freedom Of Information Act. (Pages from that document may be viewed to the left of this article.)

It included email correspondence and a 2012 performance evaluation of Keim.

On Sept. 19, Keim met with athletic director Mark Adams and Superintendent Thomas Langdon. The following day, Langdon sent an email to Keim, again voicing his concerns.

Later that afternoon Keim requested a phone call from Langdon to answer questions before he made a decision about resigning.

Langdon's response was to schedule a meeting for 7:30 a.m. the next day, Sept. 21. Later that day, Langdon sent an email to school board members a copy of a letter of resignation that media outlets would be presented after that night's football game.

In the email, Langdon summarized events leading up to Keim's departure.

Last Thursday, the school released an unsigned statement to the media regarding the resignation.

Since Keim's resignation, a letter-writing campaign began, along with a T-shirt campaign supporting the coach.

When asked about it by phone Monday night, Langdon said, "Unfortunately it keeps this an ongoing issue. All this does is distract from the athletes and their studies."

Also on Monday, Keim discussed the details leading up to his resignation in a phone interview with the Sturgis Journal.

In the days leading up to what would be his final game as head coach, Keim had meetings and exchanged emails regarding his position.

Langdon said in an email to Keim that there were "concerns" regarding his coaching, but Keim would not accept them.

The coach did, however, acknowledge he would work with his coaching staff on improving upon some of those concerns. But, Keim didn't believe all of them were merited.

"I resigned based on information that I had at the time, and the way it was presented to me," Keim said Monday. "The information was presented as facts. Since that time, it appears that those were many false allegations and grossly exaggerated."

However, Keim still was the head coach on Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. At practices, he said many of his players noticed something had been bothering him.

"In 99 percent of the teams I've coached, 99 percent of the kids I've coached, they notice when I'm not myself or appear to be acting different," he said. "Many asked me what was wrong and told me I wasn't acting like myself."

Also in that same email, Langdon told Keim that he felt like the coach could correct some of the philosophies on which they disagreed. Langdon mentioned he'd be willing to meet with Keim and his coaching staff to discuss the concerns.

Page 2 of 3 - It appeared things were beginning to iron themselves out, Keim said. He held a meeting with his team, telling them he would stay on for the remainder of the season.

"After that meeting, the kids told me that I had to continue being myself," he said.

Yet he still wasn't sure he had the backing from his superiors, he said.

"In any job in this country, if you can't have the backing from your superiors, that can be a deciding factor," Keim said.

In an email from Keim to Langdon on Sept. 20, the coach asked if he could have a phone conversation with the superintendent. He told Langdon he would own the swearing and sarcasm, two concerns that had been brought up.

When asked Monday about the number and type of concerns, Langdon told the Journal, "Ask coach Keim about those, I don't want to get into that."

"I told both Mark and Mr. Langdon that I would own up to the swearing and that I had addressed this with my staff," Keim said. "We had even talked about that before any of this stuff came up. Sometimes, old habits are hard to break."

Keim also said in the email that many of the allegations were false or incorrectly reported. He said he'd return as football coach on two major concerns — parents and kids coming out.

In regard to parents, Keim addressed that he wouldn't allow them to control how he acted or talked. He mentioned that as a kindergarten teacher, he was very aware of "tattling."

"Irregardless of how you coach, there are always going to be concerned parents," Keim said. "And if I changed and became someone different, there still would be a group of concerned parents."

Langdon responded to Keim's email and said he would not call him back, but that there would be an early morning meeting in his office. Keim attended that meeting.

He didn't, however, go to school to teach his normal kindergarten classes that day or the previous two.

"I didn't go to work (Sept. 19-21) because I wanted to think clearly and rationally about the situation," Keim said. "On Thursday I felt like I needed to feel some support."

At the meeting Sept. 21, Keim said issues brought up included parents' concerns and the mention that kids on the team were ready to quit immediately. Keim said he also wanted some reassurance that he would be able to coach not only to the end of this season, but also be the head coach next year as well.

He said that was not promised to him. Keim expressed his opinion to resign, which was accepted. His tenure as football coach ended effective immediately following the team's win over Battle Creek Central.

Page 3 of 3 - Earlier in the day, in an email from Langdon to the school board, the superintendent described Keim as having a "change of heart" and that he would be resigning.

The support for Keim has been immense, based on response from players, coaches, parents and fans.

On Monday, Keim said he wasn't bigger than the program and said he appreciated the support, but the kids should always come first.

"I don't look at myself as anything special, but I'm certainly humbled by the support from the community," he said. "This isn't all about me, it's about the kids. It's about trust and honesty; loyalty. As a team, we always talked about winning and losing and the process of being successful in life. The goal is always winning, but it's the process of doing that is what's important."

After everything that has happened, Keim said, if given the opportunity, he'd gladly coach again this season.

"I would take the job back if given the opportunity," he said. "Especially for my seniors."

In Keim's coaching evaluation from Adams in January, he received "exceeds expectations" in 44 of 45 categories. The lone category of "meets expectations" was "Displays respect for athletes, coaches, parents and officials."

In Adams' comments at the end of the evaluation, it reads: "Improve on coaches' interaction with officials during games,

language must eliminate bad/foul language among coaches and players and finally, great season!"